It appears
as though, far too many consumers are taking a very life-threatening recall
campaign for their vehicle too lightly and are not doing what they need to do.
I believe they do not understand the potential risk of injury or death caused
by defective Takata air bags.

The steps to
confirm that your vehicle is subject of the Takata air bag campaign are
extremely simple. Contact me through phone at 1-866-490-1673 or 1-903-513-7808,
or you can write me at robo14@aol.com.
Supply your VIN (Locations are addressed later). On email, subject line is air
bag recall. I will get back to you the same day to determine if your vehicle is
affected. It’s a free service to the owner and no charge to you will be
incurred. In the event your vehicle is affected by this extremely important
recall or any other, I will advise you. If so, contact a local dealership to
have them address the recall. Since it is a recall, again, there is no charge
to the owner.

Years ago,
Takata issued recalls on their air bags on tens of millions of vehicles. The
recalls are not meant for one specific make or model. Just about every vehicle
has a Takata air bag.

The reason
for the recall and the immediate danger to get the vehicle into the shop to get
the recall handled. This is serious! In the event the vehicle is involved on a
collision and the air bags deploy, what is happening is shrapnel is coming out
with the deployment of the airbag! There is extreme concern for injury or
death! This is not one of those recalls to be ignored. There is no charge for
the owner to correct this problem.

In my case,
I have seen the results of these defective air bags. To illustrate as to how
serious this recall is with no exaggeration, picture someone aiming a shot gun
at your face and upper torso from a couple feet away! The results are the same!

All you need
to do to see if your vehicle is recalled or if recalled and problem has already
been repaired is call me at 1-903-513-7808 or email me at robo14@aol.com with subject line air bag
recall and supply me with your 17 digit VIN.

Where is the
VIN if I don’t have any paperwork with the vehicle’s VIN inscribed on sales,
insurance card or registration?

The VIN is
located behind the windshield on the driver’s side of the dash. You can see it
by being on the outside of the car on the driver’s side and peering into the
windshield on the top of the dash.

Another
location for the VIN is on a mylar label located on the driver’s door or door
jamb which varies from vehicle to vehicle.

Once you
supply the VIN, I will get back to you rather quickly to inform you if your
vehicle is affected. I do not charge the owner of the vehicle for this
information and am happy to supply the public with this information to save injuries
and possibly death!

This recall
campaign is extremely important! You may now feel too scared to drive the
vehicle if affected. Tell these concerns to the dealership and they make
arrangements for you to get a car to drive until the recall campaign is
successfully is no longer an issue. As stated, this is an air bag safety
campaign, which means you do not have to pay anyone to address this problem.

There may be
additional recall campaigns that need to be satisfied as well and again at no
charge they can be taken care of at the same time.

Other than
recalls associated with vehicle fires, I feel this is the most important recall
addressing potential injury and death that I have been made aware of and I have
been doing vehicle component defect examinations for close to 40 years! Please do
not ignore this Takata vehicle air bag campaign.

Other than a
little time contacting me and supplying the 17- digit VIN to me, this will give
you peace of mind knowing what recalls are open on your vehicle and if it is
safe to operate. I have never been a fear monger and extremely careful as to
what I tell the public on the safety of their vehicles. In fact, on some not as
important I underplay the potential affects. This is not the case in the Takata
air bag recall campaign. This product has the potential to injure or kill you
and your passengers in the event the vehicle is involved a collision!

There is
another related recall campaign on GM vehicles in which the air bags will not
deploy. This is about the GM ignition switch recall, in which the ignition lock
will go from the on position to off, shutting the engine off and supplying no
electrical power to initiate the air bags to deploy in a collision.

The combination of these two recalls in one GM vehicle leaves a kunundrum. Damned if the air bags deploy and damned if they don’t deploy!

I started a
business part time in 1981. We rebuilt all columns, Ford, GM, Chrysler, Toyotas.
You name the vehicle. I will go on about theft recoveries in my next article.

1-903-513-7808
Rob

I was
working for an Oldsmobile dealer as a Service manager and we were inundated
with theft recoveries. I imagined a business that exclusively repaired theft
recovered and vandalized vehicles.

I started
working in my home garage. I advertised in small neighborhood newspapers.

I then
bought the very popular theft deterrent known as the Chicago Collar from the
cop that designed it. The Chicago Collar installed at the dealer cost $150.00.
I had distributors. In fact, it was so cool-I never had to even use my own
money to buy the product! I already had enough distributors and product to pay
the cost of buying the product.

GM vehicle
until 1994 used the very common Saginaw steering column as did Chrysler.
Cadillac and some other GMs incorporated the column after 1994, but the column
after 36 years.

To steal a
GM with the Saginaw tilt took about 30 seconds for a teenager with a
screwdriver. Method of attack was on the left side of the steering column,
completely the opposite side of the ignition lock location. The kids in jail
taught other kids how to do this as well as how to run with cuffs on. Some
gangs would hold training courses at junk yards!

Breaking the
column. One method common with the north side of Milwaukee was to break the
lower cast shift bowl. The shift bowl was called that because it rotated when
you were changing shift positions with the transmission shift lever from Park
to Low. On floor shifts, also known as a lower shift bowl. The really cool
thing was from 1977 to 1994 all Saginaw steering columns shared most of the
same parts. The part number on the shift bowl was only different because of the
length of the plastic shroud attached to it. There were 4 locking fingers that
attached the shroud to the bowl. We would just squeeze the shroud, remove it
and replace with what we needed.

The column
parts never had wear issues. Oh, there would be complaints of looseness on the
column, especially on trucks with over weigh owner grabbing the steering column
to get into the vehicle. Some who did a quick job only tightened the 2 of 4
bolts and it would loosen up again. The bearing housing had to be removed to
get to all 4 bolts. I never had a lose column come back I had tightened. Most
did not realize a special puller was required to remove the tilt pins in the
bearing housing. What made us different from most we never put junk yard
steering columns in. Each steering column was rebuilt in the vehicle. This way,
we could offer a workmanship warranty on the steering column.

I used to go
to a junk yard and order 50 steering columns at a time. The best deal I ever
got where they removed them and I paid $5 each. As I said, the internal parts
did not wear out and installing an unknown steering column that may be
collapsed or loose was out of the question. On a Saturday afternoon or Sunday,
we completely disassembled these columns. Paint was removed from the outer
components. We painted the columns to match the vehicle with the original
factory color.

Many times
when the thief did not get the lock plate disengaged for the steering wheel,
the splines on the upper shaft and broaches in the lock plate would strip.
Dealer cost on the upper shaft was $200.00 Well, I had 300 shafts, lock plates
for tilt and tele, tilt and non-tilt in stock at all times. The plastic horn/tsignal
cancel cam would also break. I had about 200 of them in stock as well.

The dealer
could not compete with us! We were rebuilding columns for body shops too! We
got so good at rebuilding steering columns that we would have contests. I did
one blindfolded with the tools and parts laid out on my snap on cart in 45
minutes! Without a blind fold Mike and I could rebuild a steering column in 30
minutes. A job that paid 5.0 hours plus paint time of .5.

I would or
my wife at the time Kathie went to the police department every day to what we
called the theft list from the night before. We would send a flyer offering
victims a free Chicago Collar with every repair. The Chicago Collar was 2
pieces of stainless that went on top of the lower bowl to reinforce it. It was
visible, attached with stainless rivet and when we went a little farter and
installing a hidden ignition interrupt, we had attempt theft, but no one got
the vehicle.

The left
side of the column was vulnerable. Without the collar, as I said, the locking
mechanisms could be defeated in as little as 30 seconds. The control locking
the transmission shifter was located there. The Rack as it was called had a
loop that looked like a D which cops called the D ring controlled the locking
of the steering wheel and ability to start the engine. The rod for starting the
engine inside the circle of the D. The thief would break the soft metal D and
it would drop to the floor. Then he would take the screwdriver and hit the
remains upward towards the steering wheel, bouncing the spring of the geared
plastic sector. The steering wheel was no unlocked. To start the engine on a
broken tilt column was to pull on the ignition rod and engine would start and
vehicle could be driven with no keys or damage to the ignition lock!

There were
times they accidently engaged the brights and did not know how to turn on low
beam. That is how some thieves got caught because of the bright lights.

How Did They
Break Into The Vehicle?

There were
many ways kids would break into cars. There were some that they would literally
rip the door lock from the outside door panel. They also commonly broke the
vent glass in the rear, reach their arm in and unlock the door.

They also
used wedges to pry the door and stick a rod in the car and press the unlock
button. Slim Jims were common. A straight think piece of metal that had a
couple cut out that slid between the door glass and the door which could
manipulate the door lock linkage and unlock the door.

Try out keys
in the outer lock were used as well. I never saw evidence that a vehicle door
lock was ever picked.

The second
way to defeat the Saginaw steering column was used on the south side of
Milwaukee in the Hispanic area was a different theft method.

The left
side upper housing in close proximity of the dimmer/wiper switch was attacked.
The left side of the lower bowl was not touched. The sector spring was ripped
off, the geared sector was slipped off. The steering wheel lock was just
released. The geared end of the D ring or rack had teeth on it and all one had
to do was place the screwdriver on the geared portion and pull. This started
the engine and the transmission could be put in gear.